
ill 



i 





Oneida Historical Society. 



1879. 



Men of Early Rome, 



BY 



D. E. WAGER 



ONEIDA HISTOBTCAL SOCIETY 



MEN, EVENTS, LAWYERS, 

POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 

OF EARLY ROME. 



' ' BY 

D. E. ^VAGER. 



An Address Delivered before the Oneida Historical, Society, at 
Utica, N. Y., January 28, 1879. 



i 



UTICA, N. Y. 
Ellis H. Roberts & Co., Printers, 60 Genesee Street. 

1879. 



At a regular meeting of tlie Oneida Historical Society, held 
January 28, 1879, after tlie transaction of business, Mr. 1). K. 
"Wager, of liome, one of tlK= Councilors of the Society, read an 
address upon "The Men, Events, Lawyers, Politics and Politicians 
of Early Rome." At tlie conclusion of the address, on motion 
of M. M. Jones, it was 

licsolrcd, That the On ida !Ii^torical Society extends its hearty thanks to 
Mr. D. E. Wager for liis addr/'ss upon the Men and Events of Early Rome, 
whieli it regards as one of the most valuahle additions to the History of 
Oueichi County ; 

Jirsolred, That Mr. Wager ])e requested to furnish a cojiy of his address 
for i)ublication. 






MEN, EVENTS, LAWYERS, POLITICS AND 
POLITICIANS OF EAELY ROME.* 



BY D. E. WAGER 



At the close of the Revohitionary War, an<l at tlic time of the 
adoption of the ITnited States Constitution, the State of New York 
was considei'ably less democratic tlian any other State in the Union. 
There was more of aristocracy in this State than in any other. 
Tlie wealthy and influential families of the Coldens, the Morrises, the 
Schuylers, the Livingstons, the Van Cortlands, the Van Reusse- 
laers and Sir William Jolinson, with their large landed j)ossessions, 
and deriving- a princely sup])ort from a numerous tenantry, had 
infused into a large class of the j)eople difterent manners and cur- 
rents of thouglit, and made an impress upon tlie age and condition 
of things which required years to eradicate. ThL' great mass of 
the people were looked U))on l)y tliat landed gentry witli distrust, 
and as incapable of self-government ; and hence, tlie Stat:' Consti- 
tution in force in this State, down to 1822, gave to the peojde the 
rights of sutlrage in a gingerly manner, and to a very limited 
extent. Aside from cei'tain town othcers the people elected by 
ballot only Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, State Senators, mem- 
bers of Assembly, ami Congressmen ; and to vote for Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor and Senators a person must, for six months 
before election, have ])ossessed a freehohl of the value of f 250, 
over and above all debts cliarged thereon ; and to vote foi- Con- 
gressmen and Assemblymen lie must for tlie same jieriod of time, 
possess a freeliold of the valiu' of -toO, or have rented a tenement 
of the yearly value of sf^o, and actually paid taxes to the State. 
All of the other oflicers in county or State were appointed. The 

*'Phi!S address had been previously delivered by Mr. Wager before the 
Young Men's Christian Association of Rome, January l!5, 187!), and was read 
by him before the Utica Young Men's Christian Association February 4, 1879. 



4 MEN OF EARLY RO:\IE. 

State appointing hody was called '•'•Thr CoinwU of Appointment^'' 
and was constituted as follows: The State was divided into four 
Senatorial districts, called the eastern, western, southern and mid- 
dle districts, and each year the Assembly selected a Senator from 
each of those districts, and the four Senators thus selected (with 
the Governor) made such "Council of Appointment.''' The Gov- 
ernor had no vote, except in case of a tie. Tiie journals of that 
body, still preserved in the Secretary of State's oftice, at Albany, 
showing its appointments, removals and (h)ings, fill fourteen manu- 
script volumes. In a<hlition to some eight thousand military 
officers, that body a])i)ointed about seven thousand civil and 
judicial officers, consisting of the Secretary of State, Attorney 
General, Surveyor General, Gomjitroller, Chancellor, ^Tasters and 
Examiners in Chancery, Judges of the Supreme Court, Judges of 
the Common Pleas in each of tlie counties, Sheriffs, County Clerks, 
Surrogates, District Attorneys, Coroners, jMayors and Recorders 
of cities, and Justices of the Peace. 

Yes, so jealous or mistrustful were the constitution and law 
makers of the people, as to their capacity and intelligc nee in 
regard to tlie elective franchise, that even down to 1821, when 
the State Constitution was framed in that year, that instru- 
ment did not allow Justices of the Peace to be elected ; but 
instead thereof, bestowed the power of their a})poiiitmcnt ujjou the 
Board of Supervisors and Judges of the Connnon l*]eas. It ^\'as 
not until 1S2(3 that the i)eo[)le obtained a sufficient recognition of 
tlieir claim to elect their own town officers, to wring f>om the 
Legi'.lature a constiiuti;>nal amendment to be submitted to the 
peo])le, as to whether Justices of the Peace shouhl be electeil. In 
a pull of one hundred and tliirty thousand votes, cast that year on 
that submitted question, the majority in its favor in the State Mas 
over one hun:lred and twenty-eight tliousand. Oneida County 
gave three thoiisand six hundred and ninety-one for, to only six 
votos against it. The State Treasurer was appointed by a legis- 
lative enactment, naming the appointee in the act, and passed 



IIISTOKICAL ADDRESS. 

expressly for the purpose, eacli time the office was filled. County 
Treasurers and Loan Commissioners were aj)poiuted by the Board 
of Sui)ervisors, 

As a further evidence of the distrust entertained of the peo])le, 
and tlie small voice they had in the nomination even, of 
those officers for whom they could vote, and as showing the self- 
perpetuating jiower of the oHiCL'-hohlers, it may be stated that the 
Governor and Lieuienant-Govt'rnor were not nomin.ated as now, 
by a State Convention of delegates from each county in the State, 
but by a caucus of their j>oliticaf frien Is in tlie Legislature; or by 
a public meeting ol the citizens, friendly to the nominee, in Albany 
or New York, just as it happened, and no one else but those citi- 
zens taking part thereiti. State Simators, down to 1811, were 
nominated by a caucus hehl at ^Vlbany of the members of Assem- 
bly from the Senatorial districts; and if a political party in a 
Senatorial district was uniepresented in the Assembly, it had to 
get its candidate for Senator in the field as best it could. Assem- 
blymen were nominated and elected by the county at large, and 
not as now, by districts. The President and Vice I'resident of the 
United States were noininateil by a caucus of their friends in 
Congrer.s, and not as now, by Xational Conventions. The Presi- 
dential Electors vrere ap]»ointed by the State Legislature, and not 
as now, elected by the ]»eople. 

The appointment of such a host of officials gaA'e aii immense 
power and influence to the appt.-inting IxmIv, and tended to make a 
strong govenrucnt, and to keep p;;!itic;il , ower in the han<]s of the 
few. The Chancellor, Suj.'reme Court Judges, and First J.idges 
of the Common Pleas, were' ap})oi!ited during good behavior, or 
until the a})i)ointee reached the age of sixty years. Shi'ritfs and 
Coroners were annually a})i)oiuted; Surrogates for an unlimited 
time. Tiie number of side Judges of tlie Common Pleas, and of 
Justices of the Peacj, was unlimited, and sometimes as many as 
ii dozen side Judges in a county were holding office at a time. 



6 MEN OF EARLY ROME. 

This process cnal)l(Ml the dominant party to provide i)hices for its 
friends. 

This state of things continued from the eonunenecment of tlie 
Kevoliitionary War down to the adoption of tlie State (Constitu- 
tion in Januai-y, 1S2'_'. That instrunu'ut nceivcd a niajorily in the 
State of nearly tliirty-four thousand, altliouL;'l» llu'rc were iorty-one 
thousand ])t'rsons wlio voted against it. ()nci(hi C/ounty, strong-ly 
federal as she ever had heen, yet gave one thousand majority 
in its favor. Kome gave two humlred and twenty-four voles for, to 
forty-four against that constitution. 

Under that constitution radical changes were made (and since 
tlien greater) in the system and management of the go\ eiMunent. 
It was also the means of produc ing great eiianges in the politics, 
and in the ])ower and inlluenee ot the politicians in the county 
and State. Although hut a lew if any more ollicers were nuide 
elective, vet the mode of the nomination of those who were 
elected, as well as the manuei- of the aj)pointiiient(>f the others, 
was changed. The civil and political year was altered from duly 
to January; new Senatoi'ial and Assendtly districts were formed; 
the I'ight of suffrage was extendi' 1; the )udiciary system was 
remodeled, resulting in taking from the Su|)renu' Court Judges 
the political power which they had long ( xei'cised, and ol' breaking 
up the practice which had prevaile(l, of taking from the bench of 
that courl nonfuu'cs i'oi- (ioveruor; aiul the time of holding State 
elections was chaiiged fi'om April to Novend)er. I'hese various 
changes virtually annihilatci! a jiower which, for nearly half a cen- 
tury, had (listril>U(etl tlie fruits of victory an(i the spt)ils of ollice 
in almost evi'ry school district in the State, and made the central 
power at the Capital the cont r:>irmg one, in the selection of oflicers, 
from the highest, to the lov^'est. The ])ower of t he few was, by 
that constitution of ISiM, broken into fragnuMits, and thereafter 
the voice of ihe peopli' was to be heard and respt'ctcMl iu the 
several and respective localities. It was a revolutiou almost as- 



IIISTORTCAL ADDRESS. I 

great as that of the Cohmies, yet it was accoiii])lishe(l only 
after tlie most violent discussion and agitation of the (juestii^ns 
involved. 

From the foregoing, it will l)e seen, that the )»olitieal system in 
vofriu! in New York, IVom the elos(! of the Jievolutionary War 
down to th(! going into cU'ect of the ('onstitution of 1S2I, was 
well calculated to hav(; a dc|)rcssing inHuence upon ihc gi-cat 
mass of the jteojilc, and to keej) in the back ground, all exce])t 
those who by their eminent talents and al»ility, towered head and 
shoulders above their fellows. The; system was one out of which 
"regencies," "rings" and self perj>etuating "(•li(jues" would 
naturally be formed, and when a few prominent- leaders could 
dictate or control the appointments to otHee, and therel)y manipu- 
late ami control the political aifairs of the wliole Stat.;, 'i'he two 
])o]itic;il ])arties in this State, when On-'ida County was I'ortnel, 
were known as Republicans and Federalists. At the hea<l of th:; 
former was (ieorge Clinton, (jovei'uor of the State of New Voi-k 
from ITVV to 1795. The lea<lers of the Federalists were Alexander 
Hamilt(Ui, John Jay and the most of the; aristocratic families be- 
fore named. The election in 1800 of Thomas Jefferson, l*resideiit, 
if it did not destroy, it broke the backbone of that party, so that 
it did not after that year, elect a Governor of its own in this State, 
nor <lid it even run one of its own distinctive notions, but two or 
three times. The political struut^le was mainlv between the leaders 
in the l{e|)ul)liean ranks, a.s to who should be master, nor was there 
any particular princijjle involved, exce])t those made by the war 
of 1«12, the Erie canal, the con/eiilloii and constitution of 1h2I. 
In the various contests from tin- organization of Oneid.a County, 
until after adoption of the constitution of ]!Si;i, the county almost 
invariably voted for the Fe<lei'al ticket or its symjtathizei-s, while 
Rome just as uniformly voted the other way. 

Starting then, with the organization of Rome as a town in 1700 
at a time when the (•f>untry was new, the population scattered, and 



8 MEN OF EAELY ROME. 

tlie iiuml)er of residents in tlio county eminent for tlieir talents and 
abilities very few indeed, I intend to mention and to briefly 
sketch tliose wlio have reside<l in IkOme, and liave made tlieir im- 
l^ress u])on the times in which they have lived, or wlio iiave other- 
wise arisen to prominence in the history of tlie county within the 
iirstjhirty or forty years of Rome's existence as a town, 

I shall endeavor to give the names in the order of the time the 
persons came to Kome, as near as may l)e, or else in the order each 
came into ])rominence in tlie county. Ati<l as I progress, it will 
be observed that most of the jiersons named are the common 
jiroperty of Rome and Utica, and that both cities are entitled to 
be proud of and to claim them. 



MAJOR WILLIAM COLBRATH. 

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, a jolly Ii-ish- 
man, who^had rendered service to the Colonies in that struggle, 
pushed his] way westwardly, from what is now the village of 
Herkimer, into what was then called " tiie Whitestown country." 
As early as in April I7t'(), Major William Colbratli was living in the 
town of Whitestown, which thou included all of tlie State west of 
what is n()W the Herkimer County line. The town records show, 
that at the town meeting held A])ril (J, 1790, in Captain Xeedham 
Maynard's Icu-u, in the town of Whitestown, William Coll)iath 
received fifty votes for the office of Supervisor, and Jedediah 
San2,'er thii'tv-fi)nr, an<l a lull town meeting ticket was then and 
there chosen and declared elected. The recoi-ds iurther state 
"that as many peojd? oeing deprived of the privilege of voting 
for Su})er\ isor, it was moved to have the i)roceedings of the day 
made mdl and void, which passeil in the aflrtrmative.''' T'le meeting 
was tlien adjoui-ned to the next day at 10 a. m. The town meet- 
ing was held on such next day, the polls held open until 5 p. m., 
and on counting- the votes it was found that one hundred and 



HISTOEICAL ADDEE3S. 9 

iiincfceii vote>; were cast for Je<le(liah Sanger for Supervisor, and 
none for any one else, for that office, ami so lie was declared elected. 
Mr. Coll)rath was ttierefore Supervisor for less than a day. The 
foregoini;- from Jones"' " Annals of Oneida County," shows how 
queerly the electors did things in those days, and it is the lirst 
mention I find of Mr Colbrath. In the County Clerk's office 
of Oneida County, T find recorded a power of attorney, from 
Baron Steuben of New York City, hearing date, June 1, 1791, to 
Mr. William Colbrath, and describing the latter as yeomen of 
Whitestown, giving the latter full power and authority to bargain 
and scdl lands of the former, and to prosecute for trespasses com- 
mitted upon the lands of the Baron in tlie County of Herkimer, 
This instrument is witnessed by the subscribing signatures of David 
Starr (after whom "Starr hill" in Steul)en is named) and Benja- 
min Wright, a Boman, and from which it is inferred tliat Mr. Col- 
brath must then have resided near Fort Stanwix, as he certainly 
did a few years later, for in 1796 he liad a deed of one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, just east of what is n(^w " Factory Village " 
in Rome, and which land formerly belonged to Governor George 
Clinton, and which land Mr. Colbrath sold to Dominick Lynch, the 
year Oneida County was formed. Those who liave the curiosity 
to examine the first book of mortgages in this county, will find a 
mortgage on record to ]Mr. Colbrath, covering a coujile of acres of 
land in Coxe's patent, and also a large list of household articles, 
evidently mortgaged to Mr. Coll)rath (who was also Sheriff at 
the time) to screen them from an execution sale of some nnfeeling 
creditor, for the articles were (in part) as follows: "three feather 
beds, three underbods with cords, six linen sheecs, five Indian 
blankets, three ^'AAsAs', one pewter -jiot, one eartlicn tea pot, one 
earthen coffee pot, five yards of flannel, tfec, etc. 

3Ir. Colbi'ath Avas the first Sheriff' of Herkimer County, aj)- 
pointed in February, 1791, and which county then also included 
what is now Onei<la County. He lieM that office until 1795, when 
he was succeeded by Peter Smith, then of Utica, father of Gerrit 
Smith. It was while Mr. Colbrath was such Sheriff, that the first 



10 MEjST of EAELY ROME. 

term of a Court of IJecoril was liekl within tlio limits of what is 
now Oneida Couiity. It was the Herkimer Common Pleas, and 
was hehl at what is now the vil':;o-i,' of Xew Hiirtford, in a barn, 
or in an untinislied meeting liouse, ::nil was in January, 1704. The 
weather was l)itterly cold, and the room wliere the court was held 
was illy prepared for the inclemeivjy of tlie weather. ToAvards 
night, bench, bar and spectators were nearly frozen out; and to 
keep tlie lawyers warm, Siieriti' Colbr;itli passe<l quietly among 
them, a jug of spirits. The Judge ha<l told tlie crier to adjourn 
the court until next day, wlien jMr. Colbratli, hearing the order, 
and forsrettino- or else unmindful of tlie dignity of the court and 
tlie ]iroprieties of the occasion, called out, ''oli, no, no, no, don't 
adjourn yet. Judge, take some gin, it will keep you warm, Judge;" 
and suiting the action to the advice, passed the jug to the bench. 
Ther.' was not the romance to it that there was in Maud jVIuller's 
case; nevertheless llie Court partrjok, aiul doubtless thought, if 
it did iK)t say 

"Thanks to yoa, fnr a sweeter draught 
From a kinder hand was never (juaffed." 

Oneida County was formed jVIarch 15, 1798, and four days 
thereafter, Mr. Colbrath Vv'as appointed its first Sheritt', and held 
the otlice until the close of the year. 1 have obtained nothing 
further relative to liim, but he seems entitled to a place in this 
record, if for no other reason than that he was tlie first Sheriff 
of the two counties above named, and tlie additional fact that he 
Avas the only Komaii who licld that otlice (except- Israel S. Parker 
in isl;] and 1S44) for the tirst seventy years alter tlie organization 
of Oneida County. 

BENJAMIN WRIGHT. 

Benjamin Wright, who figured ]»rominently in after years as a 
surveyor and engineer, came to Fort Stanwix in 1790, when 
twenty years old. His father's family came from Connecticut the 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 11 

previous year, and located in what is now familiarly known as 
"Wright Settlement." Benjamin had remained bcliin<l to attend 
school and study surveying, for which he had a natural taste 
and aptitude, and which profession promised to be useful and 
profitable in this then new country, but rapidly settling up. Tlie 
various owners of the Patents and tracts in this section, were at 
that time, sub-dividing their lands into lots, laying them out into 
farms, for the accommodation of tiie settlers. From 179G to 1800 
Mr. Wright was engaged in surveying in wliat are now Franklin, 
Jeflerson, Lewis, Oneida, Oswego and St. Lawrence coxinties, in- 
cluding Macomb's great j>urc]iase oi' near four million acres in the 
northern ])art of the State. Li wliat was then Oneiila County, lie 
surveyed out into farms, over five hundred thousand acres, before 
he was twenty-six years of age ; and when the above named counties 
were formed, he surveyed out tlieir boundaries. 

In 1S04 occurred tlie gubernatorial contest in this State, between 
Morgan Lewis and Aaron Burr — both republicans. Mr. Lewis, at 
the time of his running, was Cliief Justice of the Supreme Court, 
and Aaron Burr was Vice President of the United States. There 
was no ])olitical principle involved in the election. Benjamin 
Wright ran for the Assembly in this county, on the Burr ticket ; 
on the other ticket was Gen. Walter Martin, of Martinsburgh, 
then a part of Oneida County. Without counting the vote of the 
town of Adams, then also in Oneida County, Mr. Wright and Mr. 
Martin had received in the county, an equal number of votes, 
making the vote between them a tie. The whole number of votes 
cast in the town of Adams was thirty-four, and all of those were 
for " Benj.'''' Wright, and the question was, whether they should 
be counted for Benjamin Wriglit. The County Clerk returned 
the above fixcts to the Assembly, and that body, on the second 
day of its session, awarded tlie seat to Mr. Wright. At that time 
there was no newspaper office nearer Adams tlian TJtica, and quite 
likelv the ballots for tliat town were written, and hence the sriven 
name of Mr. Wright abbreviated as above. Mr. Wright Avas the 



12 MEN OF EAKLY HOME. 

first Roman clcctcMl to tlie AssoinLiy aftLT tlu> o;-g-:'niz:ition of 
Oneida Conni y. Matliew Bfowii, Jr., a Roman, had been elected, 
in IVrxj and 1707, wlien Rome was a part of Herkimer County, and 
at a time wlien tlie Legislature met in New York City. ^Ir. JJrown 
Avas the tii-^>t ])ostmaster of Rome. The election of 1804 resulted 
in favor of j\[oro;an Lewis, hy eight thousand five hundred majority. 
Rome gave Lewis ninety-six votes, and Burr thirty-three; it gave 
Walter ^lartin one hundred and fifty-four, and ^Ir. Wright one liun- 
(lre(l ;;iid forty-one — which indicate al)out the number of freehold 
voters in Rome at that time. Out of that contest grew the duel be- 
tween l>urr and TTaniilton, which occurretl within tliree months after 
that election, resulting in the killing of iramilton and the consequent 
ostracism and ruination of Burr. In a few years thereafter he was 
a prisoner, on li'ial for treason to the United States (lovernment, 
n ])i)lilical ;)utcast and fugitive wanderer in itrange finds and for- 
eign parts. The next contest ior (governor, was in 1S()7, between 
Morgan Lewis an 1 Daniel !>. Tompkins — '.loth rei)ublicans, and 
with no political ]irinciple inv(»lve(k Tompkins was Judge of the 
Supreme Court, while running for the office of Governor, as Mor- 
gan Lewis was three years before. F>enjamin Wright ran again 
for tlie Aisembly this yt'ar, on the ti(d<i't with Morgan Lewis, and 
was elected in the countv, although IVlr. Lewis was defeatecl in the 
State by four thousand majoritv. Tn 1808 Mr. Wright was again 
elected to th(> Assembly. The Krie Can:d (pu'sti:>n at tliat time was 
beginninu' to attract considerable atteniion. ^Vhile in the Legis- 
lature, he seconded a i-esolutios! appr(')i)riating one thousand dollars 
for a sur\'ey of tin' Erie C\anal route. Tlie l>ill ])asse(l the .Vsseni- 
1)ly, but the S'lnte cut the appropriation down to six hundred 
dollars. Think of it, six hundre(l dollai-s to jiay the expense of a 
survey oi a route of tliree hundred and sixty miles, anil much of 
the way through a wilderness ! Li th.'se dtiys it would hardly i)ay 
for a chamjiagne supper that would be given in glorifu-ation of 
the ])assage of an appre-priation bill. J>ut legislators and the 
])eo]>le wvvv then economical and unaccustomed to lavish expend- 
itures; and besides, the great mass and most intelligent of the 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 13 

people looked ii])on the scheme of a canal from Lake Eric to the 
Hudson Eiver as wild, visionary ;nid impractical. Tlie {patriotic 
Governor Daniel D. Tompkins op[)Osed it. A committee from this 
State, in January, 1809, calle<l on President Jefterson, to influence 
him and liis administration in behalf of the project, and after all tlie 
surveys, estimates and i)ortraya] of the commercial ])rospects had 
been laid before the President, even he coolly answered, " It is a 
splendid project, and may be executed a century hence." " Why," 
said he, "here is a canal, of a few miles, projected by General 
Washington, which has languished, and yet you think of making 
a canal three hrcndved ond ffty miles through a irllderness. It is 
little short of madness to think of it." The friends of tlie meas- 
ure did tliink of it nevertheless, and in 1810 the Legislature ap- 
pointed De Witt Clinton and othei-s to cause the route to be 
explored, wdiich they did, and reported favoraldy in 1812. Xow 
came the question to get a competent engineer to lay out the 
canal, for it was considered that none competent could be found in 
the United States. William Weston, of England, had been to this 
country and laid out the Western Inland Cannl. lie surveyed 
the lands, wdiile liere, of Dominick Lynch, and made a map of 
Lyucliville, now Rome, and laid out the village plot, as reference 
is made in all of Mr. Lynch's deeds and leases to that map of Mr. 
Weston. That gentleman was written to in England, to see if he 
woulil come, and sevcU thousand dollaiv- a year salary was offered 
him, but as he could not then accept the ottere<l engagement, Mr. 
Wright and Mr. Geddes held a consultation, and both went before 
tlie committee and offered their services. They were employed at 
fifteen hunlred dollars per year. The war with England inter- 
rupted further proceedings until the termination of hostilities, and 
so the matter rested. 

In 1813 Mr. Wright was appointed one of the Judges of the 
(yommon Pleas, probably through the influence of his political 
friend, Jonas Piatt, of Whitesboro, that year a member of the 
Council of Ap})ointment ; but Mr. Wright did not ever give 



14 MEN OF EAELY ROME. 

much attention to judicial duties. In 181G tlie canal project was 
revived by the presentation to the Legislature of a memorial 
signed by one Imndred thousand persons, asking legislative action. 
The Legislature took action, and Mr. Geddes made a survey of the 
western, and Mr. Wriglit of tlie eastern division ; and the levels of 
the two, wliere they met, differed less than one iucli and a half. 
The work of construction was commenced in 1817, and those two 
engineers remained in charge until the woi'k was completed, in 
1825. 

In 1817 Mr. Wright ran for the Assembly, but was defeated by 
Henry Huntington, owing to tlie popularity at that time of 
DeWitt Clinton and his friends. On the fourtli of July that year, 
the imposing ceremonies of first breaking ground for the construc- 
tion ol the canal took ])lace in Rome, southwesterly of the United 
States Arsenal, on the old route of that canal. ]>e\yitt Clinton, 
elected Governor of the State the April l)eiore, was present, as 
were other State dignitaries, and a large concourse of people. Mr. 
Wriglit was partner in mercantile j»ursiiits in Kome from 1804 to 
1817, at first with l\'ter Colt, and later with his brtfther, the late 
William Wright. lie was consulting engineer on a great many 
works of internal improvements, such as the Cliesapeake and Ohio 
Canal, Illinois Canal, the Welland Canal, the Delaware and Hud- 
son Canal, the New York and Erie Railroad and the Harlem Rail- 
road. In 1835 he went to Cuba, to consult as an engineer of a 
railroad to be built on that island. About 1820 he built, and 
occupied for his residence until 1825, the first brick dwelling liouse 
in Rome west of the Willett House, and wliicli Avas bought 
and used as a banking house in 1832, by the Bank of Rome, 
organized that year. Mr. Wright about 1825 moved to New 
York, and died in that city in August, 1842, at the age of seventy- 
two. No one in his day stood higher as an engineer than 
Benjamin Wright. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 15 

GEORGE HUNTINGTON. 

The first Rome merchant located at Fort Stamvix early in tlie 
spring of 1793, and, for want of other accommodations, opened 
his stock of goods in tlie bar room, or an adjoining room, of the 
tavern tlien kept ]>y John Barnard, and standing a little north- 
easterly of the ]iresent site of the Conrt House. George Hnntington, 
then an unmai-ried man of twenty-tliree years, was a native of Con- 
necticut, and while he had clerked it the previous year at Whites- 
boro, had visited the Fort for tlie jnirpose of "interviewing" tlie 
prosjiect. Settlers were coming in, the trade with the Indians, 
then here in great numbers, promised to be good, and so Mr. 
Huntington, with his brother Henry, then of New York Citv as 
a partner, commenced trade in what is now Rome, at the time 
above stated. The next year Mr. Huntington erected a frame 
store and a frame dv/elling on Dcminick Street, near the corner 
BOW known as the " ?.Ierrill Block." In lookino- tlirono-h the 
account books of that fii-m, as I have done from that date down 
for many years thereafter, it is interesting and curious to note 
that many of its retail customers then resided in what are now 
Oswego, Onondaga, Cayuga. Jefferson and Lewis counties ; and it 
is also Avorth while to mention, for it is in accordance with the 
fact, and is true of every other dry goods merchant or dealer fifty 
sixty or seventy years ago, that the charges for rum and brandy 
upon the books of the merchants of those times against the cus- 
tomers, were about as frequent as that of any other commodity 
kept on hand for sale ; and the list of that kind of accounts ao-ainst 
members, deacons and elders of churches was about as lengthy as 
against any other class of customers. Such was the custom of the 
times half a century ami more ago, and it affords a striking contrast 
with the present times. When Rome was organized as a town, in 
1796, Mr. Huntington was elected its first Supervisor. When 
Oneida County was formed, two years later, he was appointed one of 
the side Judges of the Common Pleas for the new county, and re- 



16 METSr OF EARLY ROME. 

appointed in IROl, and again in 1S04 — both times by a repubHcan 
Council (if Appointment. lie was elected Supervisor of I'ome in 
1804, 1S14, and in lsl7. In 1810 an election of Governor took 
place ; and although it was two years bei'ore the war with England 
commenced, yet that subject was thus eai-ly discussed, and the 
issues or the causes of that war enti'red largely into that State 
canvass. Jonas Piatt, a federalist and a lawyer of note, ai:d tlie 
first County Clerk of Oneiihi County, then resided at AYhitesboro,, 
in this county. The federalists felt confident of carrying the 
State, so they were early in the field. Tiie fore part of January^ 
of that year, a meeting of the citizens of Albany was held 
(none but those citizens taking part therein) at wliich Mr. I'latt 
was nominated for Governor. He liatl settled at Whitesboro 
in 1*700; and it was calculated that, as he luul settled in and 
grown up with the '■ great west," as all this part of the State was 
then called, he would poll a large vote in the western disti'icty 
then a republican district. ^Ir. George Huntington was nomi- 
nated for the Assenddy on tlie ticket Vvith Mr. Piatt. Henry 
"Wager, Senior, of Western, ran for Assembly on the other ticket. 
Daniel 1). Tompkins vras re nominated for Covernor in February, 
by a legislative caucus of his friends, and the contest was sharp 
and bitter, and con<lucled with great zeal on both sides. In that 
contest, as in al)out every ether that has ever taken place in tliis 
countrv, the " war party '' was triumphant in the State. T!)mj)kins 
was elected Governor by al)out ten thousand nmjority ; ^Fr. Ilunt- 
ino'ton and his Assembly ticket were elected by about three 
hundred and fifty majority in the county, but Rome gave fifty the 
other way. 

In 1813 occurred another election for Governor. Daniel D. 
Tompkins, the " great war Governor "" of New York, w^as renom- 
inated, and John Taylor for Lieutenant-Governoi-. At that time 
this country was in the midst of a war with England, and tlie 
northern frontier of New York was the scene of active military 
operations. The federalists nominated Stephen Van Rensselaer, 



UISTOEICAL ADDEESS. 17 

"The Patroon," for Governor, and George Huntington for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, and that }>arty went into the canvass with high 
hojies of tsuecess ; for both nominees were higljly respectable and 
entii-ely unexceptioiial)le in their cliaracters, and there was then, as 
in the recent war, considerable dissatisfaction with the nianage- 
inent of the war. The election was sharply contested, but the 
"war ticket" was successful in the State by nearly four thousand 
majority, to the bitter niortitication of tlie federalists, and contrary 
to the shrewdest calculations of both parties. 

Mr. Huntington was collector for tlie Western Inland Ganal 
from its completion in 1797 to the completion of tlie Erie Canal 
from Rome to Utica in 1819. 

In 1815 Mr. Huntington ran lor the State Senate, in opposition 
to Henry Seymour, father of Ex-Governor Seymour, but was de- 
feated. He was elected to the Assemlily in 18J8, 1819, 1820 and 
1821, being the years when there was the greatest excitement, 
growing out of the calling and holding ol a convention for a new 
constitution — the framing of that instrument, and its sul)Uiission to 
the people, involving the questions of the elective francliise, and 
an entire change in the political system in the State; and also dur- 
ing the years of the bitter and exciting gubernatorial contest 
between DeWitt Clinton and Daniel D. Tomj^kins in 1820. 

Under the new constitution of 1822 Mr. Huntington ran airaiu 
for Senator, but he and his three associates were defeated by 
Samuel Beardsley and others. That seems to liave been the last 
time lie ran for a jiolitical office ; and as he had been nine times 
elected to the Assembly, and discliargeil the various duties incum- 
bent upon him witli credit and honor, he might well be content to 
retire from the political arena. He was trustee of Rome village 
in 1820, 1821, 1822, 1826 and 1827. It was about 1816 that he and 
liis brother Henry retired from mercantile business, and devoted the 
remainder of their lives to looking after a large landed property, 



18 MEJNT OF EARLY EOME. 

much of it held 1>y them in common, and to taking care of the 
large ])roperty which they liad acquired by their ])rudence and 
careful industry. Mr. George Huntington died in IJome in Sep- 
teniher, 1841, at the age of seventy-one years, univei'sally respected 
and esteemed. He was the father of our worthy and honored towns- 
man, Mr. Edward Huntington. 



JOSHUA HATHEWAY. 

The Battle of Bennington, in August, 1111, was the first link in 
the chain of events which led to the fiit;;ht of St. Leo-er hefore Fort 
Stanwix, tlie subsequent capture of Burgoyne on the fields of 
Saratoga, and the consequent frustration of the British plan of that 
campaign — to separate ISTew York from the New England States. 
In that battle, under General Stark, was a father and seven of his 
sons from the State of Connecticut. One of those sons was 
Josliua Hatheway; he had reached his sixteenth IVirthday but 
three days before that battle was fought. Ten years later, and 
after further service in that war, Joshua Hatlieway graduated at 
Yale College, studied law, was admitted to jn-actice, and, in 1705, 
came to Fort Stanwix, then in the town of Steulten, Herkimer 
County, and was admitted to the bar of that county. After the 
orsxanization of Oneida County, and at the first term of the Oneida 
Common Pleas, held at the school house in tlie southeast corner of 
the West Park, in Rome, he was admitted to that court. In 
1798 he was commissioned for the new county, one of the 
Justices of tlie Peace, and he was also apjiointed by the Board 
of Supervisors the first County Treasurer, and held that 
office until 1802; and he lield various town offices during the 
twenty-five years thereafter. About 1810 he was apj)ointcd by 
President Madison the secoml postmaster in Pome, and he held 
that office through successive administrations for twenty-six 
years, and until his death. In 18)8 lie was appointed Surrogate 
of Oneida, in place of Arinur Breese, a federalist. He was the 



HISTORIC zVL ADDRESS. 19 

first Rome Surrogate, and the second one appointed in the county. 
It was the same Council of A])j)ointment which, a few days before, 
had appointed Martin Van j>ureu Surrog-ate of Columbia County, 
DeWitt Clintou Mayor of Xew York, and Samuel Youuo; Justice 
of the Peace of Saratoga County — men who, in after years, made 
their impress upon the history of the State and Nation. A i)retty 
clean sweep was made tliat year of all the offices in the State, 
whose incumbeuts were unfriendly to Governor Tompkins. 

In 1813 the federalists obtained the control of the Council of 
Appointment, and their In-oom in turn swept out the Tompkins 
ofiice-holders. In February, of that year. Mi'. Hatheway was 
turned out of the Surrogate's office to make room for Erastus 
Clark, of Utica. It was the same yetir and but ten days after, 
the same council turned out of tlie office of Attorney-General 
the eloquent and renowned lawyer, advocate, and Irish exile, 
Thomas Addis Emmett, and ]mt in his ]»lace that able law^yer, 
Abraham Van Vechten, a dyed in the wool federalist. Mr. 
Hatheway, this year, went to Sacketts Harbor, as quartermaster 
in the " Rome Reffiment." 



-o' 



In 1814 the Tompkins people carried the Assemblj^ secured the 
Council of Appointment, ami ado[)ted the most vigorous measures, 
not only to carry on the war with Great Britain, but to turn out 
the federal ofiiceholders in the State. In February, 1815, Martin 
Van Buren was appointed Attorney-General, in jdace of Mr. Van 
Vechten, and a month later, Erastus Clark was rotated out of the 
office of Surrogate of Oneida County, to make room for Mr. Hathe- 
way. Four years later in 1819, in a (piarrel in the republican party, 
between tiie " Clintonians" and " Bucktails " (anti-Clintoniaiis) Mr. 
Hatheway Avas displaced to make room for Greene C. Bronson, 
then of Vernon, in this county. Althouirh Mr. Clinton in 1820, was 
elected Governor by about fourteen hundred majority, yet the 
anti-Clintonians secured the Assembly and the Council of Appoint- 
ment, and the friends of the Governor had to walk the platik. 



20 MEN OF EAKLY ROME. 

Ill A])iil, IS'Jl, Mv. IJroiisoii was tui'ned out and ^Ir. Ilathoway 
a (liirtl tiiiic rqijioiiitcd Surrou'atc, Avliieli position lie held until 
]Sl'7, when his ])()litical seal]) was ai^'ain di'inaiided — this time l)y 
a Ikoinan, and a youiiL!," man of talent and I'romise, just then rising 
into notice and jn'oiniir'iiee in the re|)iil)liean ranks, as will be 
I'urthe!" and UK/re I'ully n:>liee(l, -when referenee is made to Hon. 
ITenry A. Foster. "WIumi 31 r. Ilatheway was restore*! to the office 
of Surro!;-ate, in the sprinu,' of 1821, he was also appointed one of 
the side .Tudi;es of the Common Plear; re appointi'd in ]8'2;j, and 
again in February, 1 S28 ; the last time through the ai<l and intlu- 
enee of Hon, Henry A. Foster, tlien Suri'ogate of the county, and 
who, Iti'ing in Alhaiiy at the time, M'iih his own hands took the 
nomination of Mr. llatht'way from ('overmu- DeWitt Clinton to 
the Senate chamber f.)r contirmation. Tiiat same evening (Tovernor 
Clinton died suddenly in his chair. It was ])rol»a1)ly his last 
executive nomination. ]\Ir. Hatlieway held that office until 1S83. 

He was Postmaster twenty-six years, Surr(\gate thirteen years, 
Judge of the (\)mmon l*k'as twelve years, besides holding the 
office of Justice (»f the Peace for many years, and all of those 
offices at the sanu' time for a considerable jieriod. Is it a 
Avonder that the peoph^ desired a change, ami that they gave 
nearly thirty-four thousand majority for the new constitution? 
That he discharged the duties of those offices with exactness is not 
questioned. He studiously maintained the dignity of the court 
ill which he acted, and exacted resi)ect to the ])osition he held, and 
the government he represented. It is narrated that whenever the 
mails arrived for distribution at the l\ome ])ost office, he com- 
mande<l silence on the part of all spectators then ])resent, required 
them to be seated, and said : '' (Jentlemen, take off your hats, for 
the Fiiited States mail is now to be opened and distributed.'' A 
church congregation was never more respoctful, nor a court assem- 
blage more orderly tlian on such occasions in the Poiue post office. 
Nor need this i'ormality seem strange, for doubtless the memory of 
some who now hear me goes back to the time, for mine does, when 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 21 

llic ])repi(lin<j; jiul;j:e of the court w:ir^ escorted to and from tlie 
hotel, each forenoon and ai'ternoon session, hy the Slierilf, with 
sheatlied sword, accompanied by di'imties and constahle with long 
staves, a!id the SheritF sat on a raised seat in tlie court room, with 
liis sword, to ])reoerve ordei*. Mr. Hatheway died in Konie in 
December, 1 830, at the age of sevciity-hve years. 

HENRY HUNTINGTON. 

The year Oneida County was formed Henry Huntington, the 
father of Hon. B. N, Huntington, made Rome his home. In 1800 
he was elected Assessor and School Commissioner in Rome. In 
1803 Supervisor, and again in 1807. In 1801 he ;;nd Jose])h Kirk- 
land, of Utica, I'an on oppo:-ite tickets for membe]"s of tlie constitu- 
tional convention, held in October of that year. Without the vote 
of the town of Mexico, then a ]);irt of Oneida County, the munbcr 
of votes in the county for Mr. Kirklaiid (a federalist) was seven 
hundred and forty-eight; f;)r Mr. Huntington, seven hu'.idred and 
thirty-eight. All of th.e vote of 3Iexico (eighteen votes in all) 
was cast for Mr. Huntington ; but only two of the three in: ])-clors 
of election had signed the return, and Jonas Piatt, then County 
Clerk, and a federalist, gave tlie c?rtificate of election to ]Mr. 
Kirkland. ]\fr. Huntington contested the seat, and the constitu- 
tional convention, presided over by Aaron Hun-, then Mce Presi- 
dent of the United States, gave it to him. In that contest Rome 
gave two hundred and seven votes to ^Ii-. Huntington, and none 
to the other ticket. In l.'~!04 Mr. Huntington w;is elected to the 
State Senate, he being the fii-st Senator from Rome. In 1800 he 
was member of the Council of Aj)i)i>intnK'nt, as wa«; DeWitt Clin- 
ton that year; and, although a warm pirsonal and political friend 
of Mr. C'linlon, yet h<' earnestly ])i'ot'.sted against the wholesale 
removals from ofnce m.uh' th;it year by hi-; colK-agues in that council, 
fm- no reason other than that those turiUMl out were friends of 
Governor Morgan Lewis. HainnioiHrs Political History sj)eaks of 
Mr. Huntington as a gentleman and politician of great moderation 



22 MEN or EAKLY EOME. 

and prudence, and alto^-other incapable of poir^ecution or pro- 
scription. In 1808 lie was chosen l)y tlr.' Legislature Presidential 
Elector, and of the six votes from New York State given for 
George Clinton for President, in preference to James Madison, Mr. 
Huntington's was one. In 1812 he was again ap[)ointeil Presiden- 
tial Elector, and all of tlie votes that year, of this State, were cast 
for DeWitt Clinton for President, 

In ISIG he was elected to tlie Assembly, and the oidy one on his 
ticket. It was this Li^gislatiire which passed the law abolishing 
what remained of slavery in tliis State, a.ftcr July 4, 182 7. A 
law had been passed in 1801 for a gradual emancijtation, by pro- 
viding that all persons born of slaves after July 4, 1709, (at which 
time there were twenty thousand slaves in New York State) 
should be free, except that such persons should, if males, serve as 
apprentices until they- reached twenty-eight years of age, and, if 
females, until twenty-five ; and further providing that slaves could 
not be witnesses in any case, except against other slaves in 
criminal trials ; and also requiring owners to instruct their slaves, 
so that the latter could read the Holy Scri])tures, The law passed 
by the Legislature of 1816 emancipated tliose after July 4, 1827, 
who were not freed by tlie law of 1801. In 1817 ]Mr. Huntington 
was elected to the Assembly again, his o]>ponent being Benjamin 
Wright. In June, 1821, he was elected a member of the 
constitutional convention, which was held in August of that 
year, and was presided over by Daniel D. Tomj)kins, the Vice 
President of the United States. ^Nfr. Huntington was a mem- 
ber of the convention of 1801, also presided ovei' by a Vice 
President, (Aaron ]>urr.) In 1822 Josej*!) C. Yates, a re]iublican, 
ran for Governor, and was elected by one hun.lred and twenty-six 
thousand majority over Solomon Southwick, wlio was self-nomi- 
nated. Henry Huntington and Erastus Poot ran against each 
other for Lieutenant-Governor, the contest resulting in the election 
of Mr. Root. In 1826 DeAVitt Clinton was nominatetl for Gov- 
ernor and Henry Huntington for Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. 



IIISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 23 

Clinton was elected, l>nt Mr. Huntington was defeated by about 
four thousand, owing to local causes. It seems that a State road 
liad been projected the year previous, to run from tlie Hudson 
lliver to Lake Erie, througli the southern tier of counties, and Mr. 
Pitcher was commissioner of that road ; and the friends of that 
measure fearing that Mr. Huntington was inimical to it, living as 
he did on the line of the Erie Canal, just then completed, and. 
believed to be a rival route, the southern ])ortion of the State, and. 
the other counties friendly to that road, cast their votes for Mr. 
Pitcher. Oneida County, however, gave Mr. Huntington eleven 
hundred majority. As Mr. Huntington ha<l been in i)retty active 
political life for a quarter of a century, this seems to have closed 
his ])olitical career. In fact, lie accepted the above nomination 
with great reluctance, and after much hesitation and persuasion. 

The Bank of Utica was chartered in 1812, and the next year he 
was elected its second President, and held that position until a 
short time before his death, a period of thirty-two years. He died 
in Rome in October, 1840, at the age of eighty years. Although 
Henry and George Huntington were of opposite politics, and so 
decidedly and prominently that the party of each nominated him 
as its candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, yet their business and 
personal relations were never in the least disturbed, and much of 
their property was owned in common, and in many instances the 
partnership funds were use<l to defray the family expenses of each, 
and no separate account kei>t thereof. 



There was a number of the legal j^rofession, who came to Pome 
early in the present century, and although they did not stand out 
in the county prominently as lawyers, nor figure very conspic- 
uously in politics, yet they should be mentioned as among the 
-early members of the Rome bar. 



24 MElSr OF EARLY ROME. 



JAMES LYNCH. 



jMr. James Lyncli liTaduatcd at Columbia College in 1V99, read 
law with Joshua Hatheway, and in isOl, was admitted to ])raetice. 
He opened a law office in Rome, and had charge of his latlier's 
lands in this locality. The two main streets in Home hear the 
Christian names of father and son — the fatiier wiien Ivome was or- 
ganized as a town, owning some twenty-five hundred acres of 
land, Avhich included Fort Sfanwix and the site of the whole busi- 
ness portion of Rome. He succeeded fnnn Ivouie ]\[r. George 
Huntington in the Assembly, and was elected on the federal ticket 
in the j-ears 181:1, is 14 and 1815, all through tlK> hardest part of 
the war. He moved to I'tica in 1818, opened a law office there, 
and alxnxt 1820, he became what was called a "•higli inindvd ieder- 
alist," repudiated DeWitt Clinton, and weiit in for I ). J). Tomp- 
kins, and in 18i.'2 was elected to the Assemblv. Tt was tlie year 
John E. Hinman was elected Sliei'ilf, over S. Xewton Dexter, and 
E. Dorclu'ster, oi' tlw <)iiei(hi (^ist.-rrr^ County Clerk over Julius 
Pond. In IS'2") 3Jr. Lynch :novc'd to Xi'W York City, became 
Judge of the ^ra.riiie Court, and lield that position until his death 
in 1853, at the age of sixty-seven years. 



WHEELEK IJAPvNES. 

Mr. Ijarnes was born in Massachusetts ; but he came li-om Ver- 
mont to liome, :d)out 180G,bein'j; at that tiiiu' ndmitteil to ])rac;ice 
law. He Ava.s elected Suj^ervisor of IJonie in lsl5, and again in 
181(), and ill the latter year wa.' elected to the yVssend>ly on the 
federal ti'-ket. He was a inend;er of thai- Legislai iii':' which abol- 
ished sl;;very, as heretolore mentioned, ;;n<l wliieh authorized the 
comineiicenient of the <'onstruc'ion of the ICrie C^aii;d. In 1822, 
jMr. Barnes ran again f )r tlie .Vssembly, l)ut that was the lirst year 
alter the new ciinstitution of 1821 had gone into effect, and it was 



inSTORICAL ADDRESS. 25 

not a good yoai- for any ])olitician wlio still held to liis fcMleral 
notions. INFr. Barnes did qnite ;in extensive law })ractiee for those 
times, and was for a time law |)artnerof William Curtis Noyes. 
He Avas trustee of Home village in 1822, 18-2:!, 1S24 and 1825. 
Not far from ISP.Y, lie reside<l in Oswego, hut in a few years ho 
moved hack to liome, and died here in July 1858, ;it the age of 
seventy-six years, and as the inscription upon his tomh-stone in 
the old hurying ground reads, " having been a resident of Rome 
for fifty years." 



JAIMES SIIEUMAN. 

In 180G, another native of Massaehusetts nnide "Rome his perma- 
nent home. ]\Jr. James Sherman, tlie new comer, was a graduate 
of Williams College, and when he came to Rome was twenty-six 
years of age, and was an admitted attorney. For a year or so, 
and ahout 1807, he was a law partner of .losluia Ilatheway, and 
was himself a cauflidate for the oiliee of Surrogate, and had 
obtained the necessary recommendations to secure his aj)point- 
ment ; but, on request, gave way to Ins partn;'r, who was appointed, 
as has heen heretofore stated. 3[r. Sherman was .Justice of the 
Peace for a number of years, and held other town otKces, but did 
not mix much in county or State politics, lie died in IJome. in 
1823, at the age of forty-three, lie was father-in-law of Judge 
Henry A. Foster. 

SETH B. KOBERTS. 

Two years before Rome was orgaiilz;''! into a town, Seth B. 
Roberts, then a boy of nnir ye;irs old, came with his parents iVom 
Middletown, Conn., to Whitestown, and there I'esided until about 
1809, vvdien he made Roiue his residence. He read law witli .James 
Lynch; was admitted to the bar in I 810, and o[)ened a law office 
in Rome. Mr. Lynch, who had acted as the agent for his father 



26 MEN OF EARLY EOME. 

in the leasing of L-inds and eolleetiou of rents in Rome, moved to 
Utica in 1S18, and Mr. Roberts was appointed in liis plaee, which 
delicate and responsil»le trnst he held for fifty-three years, through 
the various titles and successive changes of ownership, of that 
landed jiroperty. The duties connected with that trnst occupied 
the main portion of his time, so that he gave but very little atten- 
tion to law business, nor did he ever become much known, either 
as a lawyer or as a polititian. He was firm and decided in his 
political convictions, yet he always sympathized and most gen- 
erally acted with the party tliat most strongly favored the tem- 
perance cause and anti-slavery movement, or had for its object the 
bettering of the condition and the elevation of the human race. 
In the strong democratic town of Rome, he was not infrequently 
elected to town offices, although he was always on the other side in 
politics. In 1840, lie was appointed one of the Judges of the 
Oneida Common Pleas, and for five years held that office. For 
sixty years of his lile he was a resident of Rome, and the oldest 
inhabitant can not, through the whole of that period, recall a sin- 
gle instance where he w^as seen to be angry, or manifested the least 
irritation of temper. He who possesses, or can maintain, such an 
equanimity for such a period of time, is entitled to a place in any 
history; the recent one of Oneida County not excepted. Without 
guile in his heart, and with malice toward none and charity for 
all, he had not while living an enemy in the world, and no one 
even uttered an unkind word concerning him. lie died in October, 
1S70, in the eighty-first year of his age. Not long before his last 
illness, wliile I was in his office, he pointed out to me the little pine 
talde at which he was then writing, and which was tlie only one he 
had used since his admission to the bar, fifty-four years Ix-fore. 
Is it not almost enough of a relic to entitle it to place in the rooms 
of the Oneida Historical Society ? 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS, 



CHESTER IIAYDEX. 



27 



Not far from 1812 Chester Ilayden opened a law office in Rome. 
He married a sister of James Sherm.".n. He was, for a time, law 
partner of "Wheeler Barnes, and in ISIS was Town Clerk of Rome ; 
ran for Assembly in this county in 1821, and was defeated, and 
same year he moved to Pulaski and was appointed Surrogate of 
Oswego County, and held that office for three years. In 182G he 
returned to Rome, and was law partner of Henry A. Foster, for a 
few years thereafter. In 1830 lie was appointed First Judge of 
the Oneida Common Pleas, and aljout tliat time moved to Utica, 
and lie held that office until 1840. In 1843 he was appointed side 
Judge, and held that ]>osition for three years. Aljout that time 
he moved to Albany, and in 1848 he published a legal work on 
"Practice and Pleadings " under the Code, that year brought into 
use for the first time. Subsequently he moved to Ohio, where he 
died a number of years ago, ])eing at his death President and 
Professor of a law school in that State. 



BENJAMIN P. JOHNSON. 

Soon after the war of 1812 the father of Benjamin P. Johnson 
came from Columbia County to Rome, and located here. The 
father was a practicing physician. Benjamin P. had read law with 
Elisha Williams, that renowned jury lawyer, of Hudson, Colum- 
bia County, and was admitted to the bar in this county, in 1817. 
He was tlie first Clerk of Rome village, two years afterwards, and 
held for many years the office of Justice of the Peace, School 
Commissioner and other town offices — v,-as Commissioner of Deeds, 
Master in Chancery, &c. In 182G he was elected to the Assembly 
and again in 1827 and 1828. He never was prominent as a lawyer, 
although he had great versatility of talent, and was noted for the 
accuracy and quickness with which he <lispatched business. It is 
said that he was able to listen to and carry on conversation with 



28 MEN OF EAELY EOME. 

several ])ersons on (liffercnt subjects, and at tlie same time draw a 
contract, or write a letter. In tlu' <j;reat religious revival under 
Mr. Finney, in 18'25 and 1S2G, 31r. Jolmson was converted, and in 
February of the l:\st namc<l year, lie united with the Presbyterian 
cluirch, and about the time as did one hundre(l and eiglity-fbur 
others on the same day. He was (luite active and ])rominent in 
church matters, and not far from ls;lOwas licensed t<> preacli by 
the Oneida Presbytery, and occupied the pulpit of the Second 
Church, in Pome, (hiring the occasional absences of its pastor, 
and also })reaehed :it other jjlaces, for the then ensuing ten years. 
There are those yet living who heard Mr, Johnson jireach, and 
who inform me his sermons were able, logical and to tlie point. It 
is not an miusual occurrence for ]>ersons to leave the ministry for 
the legal ](rofession, nor for members of the bar to abandon the 
law and go into the ministry; but the instances are quitt' rare 
wlien a pei-son occupies the puli)it and practices at the bar during 
the same period of time. It aftbrds evidence that all lawyers 
are not as l;ad as they are painted, and that moie cl them 
should " jtractice what they preach 



11." 



In 1S41 3,rr. Johnson Avas made the first President of the 
Oneida Count)' Agricultural Society, and for two or three 
yearsthereafter he w.as associated with ^h\ Klon Comstock, in the 
publication of an agricultural pa}>er at Home. In lS-1-7 he went 
to Albany and became Secretary and Treasurer of tlie State Ag- 
ricultural Society, and held that position for twenty-two years. 
In IS.")] he was delegate or commissioner from this State to the 
Woi-hTs Fair, at London; aii<l the information lie there gatherctl, 
and tite sights he there saw, ortere(l him the opjiortunity to ad- 
vance the s])hei'e of usefulness of the Society of wliich hi' was 
Secretary. ]Mr. Johnson died in Albany, in April, 1 809, at the 
age of seventy-six years, ilis remains are now in the Pome 
cemetery. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 20 

JOSEPH B. READ. 

Ill tlie winter of 1819-20, Joseph B. lleail, a schoolmate of 
Henry A. Foster, caino to Rome and entered tlie law office of Seth 
B. Roberts, to comjilete liis law stm-ies. He had previously read 
law in Delphi, Onondaga Comity. For a number of years he was 
Justice of the Peace in Roine ; w\as admitted in 182.3, and about 
1824-5 became a law jtartner of Mr. Foster. In 1831 he was 
Trustee of Rome village, and when George Brown, of Rome, in 
1832, entered upon Ins duties as County Clerk, ]\rr. Read was 
made his first deputy. His health was tlieii poor, and he far gone 
with consumption. That fall he started to go south to sjjeml the 
winter for his health, but he died wdiile on the boat going down 
the river from Albany to New York. 

SAMUEL BEARDSLEY. 

Prior to 181fl, a young man, then of Otsego County, commenced 
the study of medicine in the office of tlie celebrated Dr. Wliite, 
of Cherry Valley, with a \\q\v to becoming a practicing physician. 
He Avas aljout eighteen years of age, and with such an education 
as the common schools of the country tlien afforded. He sup- 
ported himself by teaching district schools in winter, that he 
might, in summer, study for a profession. Having occasion to 
attend court at Cooperstown, he was so charmed with the trial of 
causes, and witli legal proceedings in court, that he expressed to 
Joshua Hatheway, of Rome, who then chanced to be at court at 
Cooperstown, a notion and a desire to excliange the study of tlie 
medical, for that of the legal profession. He was encouraged so to 
do, and invited to iK'Conie a student in Mr. Ilatheway's offic^e. The 
invitation was accepted, and Samuel Beardsley came to liOme ; 
boarded in the family of ]Mr. Hatheway; read law; tended ])Ost 
office, and assisted in the Surrogate's Court, all in the same office, 
then on the site now' occupied by "Elm Row " buildings. The 



30 MEN OF EAELT EOME. 

studios of Mr. Beardsley were again interrupted, not by peaceful 
pursuits, liut l)y tlie stern realities of war. TJie nortlieru frontier 
of ISTew York was invaded ]>y IJritisli troops, and in 1813 Mr. 
Beardsley went to Sacketts IIarl)or to assist in the defense of Ids 
country. On liis return to Rome lie comj)leted his legal studies ; 
was admitted to the bar in 1815; took up liis residence in Water- 
town for a year; returned to Rome and opened a law otlice; uiar- 
ried a daughter of Judge Ilatheway, and was law partner of 
James Lynch for a sljort time. He was Town C'lerk of Rome in 
1817; Sui)ervisor in 1818,1819 and 1820. In 1821 lie was ap- 
pointed District Attorney in place of Nathan Williams — on the 
same day that his father-indaw was made Surrogate of the 
County. In 1822 Mr. Beardsley, Thomas Greenly, of Madison 
County, Slu'rman Wooster, of Herkimei-, and Alvin Bronson, of 
Oswego, were elected Senators from tins District, over George 
Huntington and his associates. This Avas the first election under 
the new Constitution of 1821, and it is a singular fact, and worthy 
of mention, that the democrats elected, that year, the wlu)le 
thirty-two Senators in the State — a victory no jKirty had won since 
tlie formation of the State Government. And it is also worth 
while to note, that of all of these Seiiators elected that year, the 
aboA'o named Alvin Bronson is the only one who survives. He is 
yet living at Oswego, leaving passed his ninety-seventh lurtiiday, 

Mr. Beardsley drew for the short term in tlie Senate, and 
serveil but one year. In 1823 he was appointed l)y Presi- 
dent James Monroe, I'nited States District Attorney for 
this District. Soon after his appointment as United States 
District Attorney in 1823, Mr. Beardsley moved from Rome 
to Utica. Many Romans yet remember tlu; frame house that 
stood sixty years ago on tlie present site of the Tremont 
House, and of ]Mr. Beardsley's residence there, and of liis office 
in the wing attached. In 1830 Mr. Beardsley was elected to 
Congress by sixteen hundred and forty-eight majority over S. K 
DL'xter vrho ran as the anti-Jackson and anti-masonic candidate. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 31 

Mr. Bcai-(lsley's majority in Eomo, was one Imndred and eighty- 
four. Fortune C, White ran as tlie wtn-kingnsan's candidate, and 
received three votes in Konie, and two ]\undred and forty-nine in 
the county. On liis election to Congress he resigned the ofKce of 
United States District Attorney. In 1832, he ran the second time 
for Congress, and was elected over Charles P. Kirkland, by about 
six hundred majority in the county. In January, 1S34, Governor 
Marcy tendered to Mr. Beardsley the office of Circuit Jurige for 
this judicial district ; but as President Jackson neede<l his services 
and the democratic party his vote in Congress, he declined 
the proffered appointment, and Hiram Denio was appointed in the 
fall of that same year. Mr. Beardsley ran again for Congress, and 
was elected over Joshua A. Spencer. In 1836 he was a])pointed At- 
torney General, and in 1842, he was again elected to Congress over 
Charles I*. Kirkland. In February, 1844, Governor Bouck appointed 
Mr. Beardsley Supreme Court Judge, and tln-ee years later he was 
made Chief Justice, and held that office until the constitution of 
1846 went into effi^'Ct. jVIi'. Beardsley was a democrat of the strict- 
est sect, the /u/rdest of the " liards " in the time of that party. I was 
present in the Cincinnati Convention of 1856, twenty-three years 
aojo the comino- June, when James Buchanan was nominated for the 
Presidency, and when Mr. Beai'dsley headed that half part of the 
'New Yoi-k delegation called " hunkers;'' and when he arose and an- 
nounced that "the National democracy of New York cast seventeen 
votes for James Buchanan for President," there was a seeming rel- 
ish to him, in the way he said " National," and announced that result 
in the face of the "soft" portion of that dtdegation. Mr. Beards- 
ley was one of the very few who could and did take an active 
part in politics, for over thirty years of an unusually busy life and 
yet stood on a level at the l)ar and on t'.ie bench with the ablest 
lawyers in the land, and head and shoulders above a large 
majority of his fellows. On his retiring from judicial duties, for it 
can hardly be said he ever retired from taking a great interest in 
politics, he opened a law office in New York City for a while, de- 
voting himself wholly to counsel business, retaining however his 



32 MEJSr OF EAlil.Y HOME. 

residence in ITticn. He died in the hitter city, ^Tiiy (i, 18G0, tlie 
very dit}^ lie luid uttuiiied the age of seventy years and tliree 
niontlis. 

DANIEL WA1JDW1:LL. 

" In 1S12, wlien Samuel Ueardsley was reaVliuLC law in the office of 
Mr. TTatlu way, It'iidini;' post office and hoarding in the family of 
of his then I'ufure iathcr-in-law, he had i'or a. fellow hoarder and 
student a young man a couple of n'onlhs yonngei" than himself, 
•\vlio had graduated the year before fioni Jirown rniversity in 
liliode lslan<l, and that year came \\ith his fathei-'s family to Rome 
and settled at. the "Ikidge."'' That fellow student an<l l)()ar<ler was 
Daniel Wardwell, who the next, year went into the office of (iold 
& Sill of AVhiteshor!), and was admiltcd to the Jetferson Connnon 
Pleas in 1 .s I 1 while for a brief time a i-esident of that county. lie 
married a daughtei' of Nt'wton Mann, lived and ])racticed law in 
Jiome in is Id and ISl7, his office being a small framt' building 
near where the jSc/ifi/H-l otiice now is. in 1S'2() he lived in Ttica, 
and soon after mov( «l to JeiVei-son (*ounf y ; and I 8J4 was ajipointcd 
by (Tovernor \'ates, side .ludge of that county. It Avas in his 
office in bS'J I at Adams, that \\v\ . C'hai-les (i. Finney, who after- 
ward became the noted ri'vixalist, was J'cading law at the time of 
his conversion, and tlu'reupon abandoned tlu' law for the ministry. 
Mr. Wardwell was elected mein]»er of 7\.sseml)ly from Jt'lferson 
County 1S25, JS'2(J and JS-J7. In 182(3 he was the means of caus- 
ing great commotion at Albany, New York and the rivei- counties, 
by his introduction into the Assembly aiul ad\(i(^acy of a resolu- 
tion lavoring the rt'nioval of the State (\ai)ital to Ftica or some 
other central })oint. Th(> [iroject took like wild liiv in th.e central 
and western part of the State, and pul>lic meetings were held at 
Utica, |;rc>sided over and taken ))art in l)y its leading and jtromi- 
nent citizens in liivor of the proposition. I regret to add, the 
measure faiU'd, and it does not look now as if it would be carried 
for the next lifty years. In ISL'S, in the exciting rresidential 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 33 

•contest between Jnckson and Adams, Mr. Wardwell nin for 
State Senator in this district, on the Jackson ticket. His o])])()nent 
was William II. Maynard of Utica. Masoniy or aiiti-masonry 
Avas then one of the exciting topics of the canvass. The election 
was close, Init Mr. Maynard was elected by about three hundred 
majority. In return for this defeat, the Jefferson county district 
elected Mr. Wardwell to Congress for three success! v^c terras, the 
first time in 1880, and whicli was for a longer time than any other 
person has been elected from that county. It is worth while to 
note that he was elected for the same three terms and in the same 
years, as Mas his fellow law student Mr. IJeardsley from this 
county, and that b<jth were warm j)ersonal and ])olitJcal friends, 
and were among the most determined adherents and su})porters of 
President Jackson all through the stormy period of his adminis- 
tration. Daniel Wardwell and Samuel Beardsley were for so 
many years in such close contact and fellowship with Presi- 
dent Jackson, it has often seemed to me as if they liad much of 
the unyielding purj)ose, unbending integrity and Uoman iirmness 
of that fearless statesman. In the last year of Mr. Wardwell's 
life, after his mind had passed into the penumbra of tliat eclipse 
from which it never fully emerged, while liis conversation wan- 
dered on all other subjects, a recurrence to or calliiig up of the 
stormy times wlien he was in Congress, seemed to remove the 
clouds from his mental vision, to l)ring light and flasli to his eye, 
determination in Isis look, as if those scenes were again passing in 
review before him, and as if ready to exclaim like Bonaparte in 
his wild delirium at St. Helena, "the head of the army!" Mr. 
Wardwell was elected to the Assembly for the fourth time in 1837 
from Jefferson county. lie became a resident of Pome again in 
18G0, and died here in March, 1878, lacking but a month of his 
eighty-seventh birthday. 



34 MEJN" OF EARLY E03[E. 



HIRAM DENIO. 



Some may say tliat those only should ho called Romans, who 
were horn in IJome. To satisfy sneh, I ])oint out Hiram Denio. 
He was horn in Wright Settlement, ohtained all of his education 
in town exce]it what he received at Fairfield Academy; read law 
at first with Wheeler Barnes, and afterwards with Storrs & White 
of Whitesboro; was admitted to the l)ar in 1821; opened a law 
office in Rome; was appointed in 1825 District Attoiney of the 
county, to succeed Samuel Beardsley, and al)out that time moved 
to Utica. In 1834, he was appointed Circuit Judge, and after four 
years M'as compelled to resign hy reason of ill health ; held the 
office of Bank Commissioner from 1838 to 1841; was Clerk of 
the old Supreme Court from about 1840 to 1845; was Supreme 
Court Reporter from 1845 to 1847, as the five volumes of Denio's 
Reports attest; in June, 1853, he was a])pointed by (lovernor 
Seymour to fill a vacancy in the Court of Appeals, and in the fall 
of that year was clec^ted over Judge Mullin ; when his term run 
out fourteen years later, he v/as re-nominated. I was in the Dem- 
ocrat State convention eleven years ago last fall at Syracuse, when 
Mayor Fernando AVood, a delegate, tried to defeat the re-nomina- 
tion of Judge Denio, because the latter had rendered an adverse 
decision in the Courts of Appeals on matters in New York City in 
which Mayor Wood w^as interested. He made a very ingenious 
and iihiusible argument against such re-nomination, and would 
have s'U'ceeded in defeating it, l»ut for the eloquent and powerful 
speecli of Governor Seymour, also a delegate. Governor Sey- 
mour's tftbrt on that occasion was among the aldest and happiest 
of his life. Judge Denio was nominated and was elected over 
Timothy Jenkins. 

It is a little singular, that as decided a democrat as Judge 
Denio was, and as intimate as he, Judge Beardsley, Judge Foster, 
Greene C. Bi-onson and other democrats were in politics, he 



IIISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 35 

never attended conventions, nor mixed in politics like them, 
nor seemed to aspire to political offices. 

That be was a lawyer and judge however second to none in the 
State, all concede. He died in Utica, in November, l.s7l, at the 
aire of seventv-three. 



o 



REV. ALBERT BARNES. 

There is another who was born in Rome, and although not 
coming within tlie line of these sketches, for he was neither a 
lawyer nor a politiciiin, yet as he has ai-isen to greater note and 
prominence in tlie world than any who have been mentioned, lie can 
not be passed by. Albert Barnes w;is born in Wright Settlement. 
He was cf al)out the same age of Hiram Denio — they were ]>lay- 
mates in boyhood, companions in youth, and friends through life. 
They attended together the Fairfield Academy, auil both were 
designed for the law. The conversion of Albert Barnes while 
attending Hamilton College, changed the whole current of his 
thoughts and the bent of his pursuits in another direction. Ho 
studied for and was admitted into the ministry, and in tiiat sphere 
of usefulness, rose to greater eminence than he could ever have 
hoped to attain in any other. For tliirty-seven years he was 
pastor of the same church. His notes of the Gospels, translated 
into various languages on the continent of Europe, and reaching a 
sale of over one million of volumes, liave made the name of Alljert 
Barnes familiar to millions of Christian households in both hemi- 
spheres, and the memory of his good vrork will be revered so 
long as the Bible is taught in our Sabbath schools, or piety shall 
be reverenced upon earth. 

JOnX B. JERVIS. 

There is another Roman, although neither a lawyer nor a 
politician, who by the strict rules would l)e shut out of this j)aper, 
yet it would hardly be complete without him. John B. Jervis 



36 MEN OF EAELY EOME. 

came with his parents to Rome, from Long Island, in the same 
year Oneida County was formed. In 1817, when tlie construction 
of tlie Erie Canal commenced, Benjamin Wright, the eugineer, was 
in need of an axman, and young Jervis was temporarily engaged. 
He was ready with an ax and apt in learning, and soon after he 
was ]n'omoted to the position of rodman in the survey, for twelve 
dollars per month. He then turned his attention to the study and 
practice of surveying and engineering, and made sucli proficiency 
Tinder Mr. Wright that in two years he was made resident engi- 
neer, at one dollar and a (piarter a day, on seventeen miles of the 
canal, extending from Madison into Onondaga County. After 
remaining there two years he was made resident engineer for two 
years more, on a more difficult and imjxjrtant division near 
Amsterdam. In 1823 he was made superintendent of the work 
for fifty miles of the canal, employing and discharging all the 
subordinates. When the canal was completed in 1825, having 
been seven years on that work, he resigned to engage in higher 
duties, and he received from Henry Seymour, Canal Commissioner 
and the father of Governor Seymour, a kind and very commenda- 
tory letter. He received from Benjamin Wright, then chief 
engineer of the Delaware and Iluilson Canal, the appointment of 
assistant engineer, and upon Mr. Jervis devolved the main duties. 
He examined the route, and on his recommendation the use of the 
river, for part of the way, as Avas first intended, was abandoned. 
He was engaged as engineer on a great many other works of 
internal imjirovement, among which may l)e mentioned the railroad 
between Albany and Schenectady, the Sclienectady and Saratoga 
Railroad, the Clienango Canal, the eastern division of tlfe Erie 
Canal on its enlargement in 183G, the Croton Water Works, sup- 
plying New York City with water, and which was considered tlie 
greatest piece of engineering skill in the world, an<l the success of 
which gave Mr. Jervis a world wide reputation. He was con- 
sulting engineer to supply Boston with water, and chief engineer 
of the Hudson River Railroad, etc., &c. The v/ater works of Port 
Jervis (a place on the Erie Railroad named after him) were con- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 37 

strncted under his approval, and the Avater works of Ikomc were 
not undertaken until tlie plan had heen suhjected to the scrutiny 
of his engineering skill, and received the approval of his judgment. 

In 181G lie united with the first and t'len the only church in 
Rome, and under its first installed pastor, and for over sixty-two 
years, he has been an honored memher of a church. I think I ani 
safe in saying there is no one who can show so long a memhership, 
and that there is no living person wdiose coming to Home ante- 
dates his, or who has made Rome for so many years a permanent 
residence. A few weeks ago he reached his eighty-third birthday; 
and those who heard or have read his lecture on " Industrial 
Economy,'' prepared a few weeks before he was eiglity-three years 
old, need not be told that the mind and memory of .Tohn B. .Tervis 
are as clear, fresli and vigorous as Avhen in the full fiush of his 
early manhood. 

HENKY A. FOSTEIJ. 

In November, 1S19, a young man, l)ut a few montlis past nine- 
teen years of age, came irom the otfice of Beach & Popple, attor- 
neys and counsellors at Oswego, to Rome, and entered the law 
office of James Sherman, to complete his law stutlies. At that 
time, to be an attorney and counsellor of the Supreme C^ourt 
required a previous course of study of seven years. Two and a 
half years of that time liad been passed by that student, com- 
mencing- in 1815, in the law office at Cazenovia, of David B. 
Johnson, father of I). M. K. Johnson, of Rome. In 1818 he read 
law at Onondaga Hill, then the county sent of Onondaga County, 
in the ofiice of B. Davis Xoxon, who subsequently became an 
eminent lavryer in Central New York, and was father of Judge 
Noxon, of Syracuse. 

When Henry A. Foster entered the law office of James Sher- 
man, as above stated, the Erie Canal between Rome and Utica 



'38 MEW V.F EAELY ROME. 

was but just completed and lirouglit into use. What is now tlie 
city of Syracuse v/as then unknown, b; iuo- only a sniall collection 
of houses, and known by the name of '■'('oyinfhy Tiio county 
of Oswego was formed Inifc three years l)efore, and wliat is now 
the city of OswL-go was, at the time ]Mr. Foster read law there, 
nn nnincorporated village of about four hundred inhabitants. 
Home was about the same size, and liad been incorporated in the 
spring before Mi-. Foster came to IJome. There were at that 
time six lawyers in Rome, \'va.: .Toshua Ilatheway, Wheeler 
Barnes, James Siierman, Samuel ]^ear<lsley, S. B. Roberts and B. 
P. Johnson. 3Ir. ILitheway devoted most <(f liis time to official 
duties, Mr. Roberts had charge of tlie Lynch estate, and Mr. 
Johnson had been admitted only a couple of years. 

In tliose days the oldest as well as the hn-emost members of the 
bar practiced in Justice's Court whenever an opportunity offered, 
and trieil causes therein with as nnicli zeal and tenacity as in 
Courts of Record. For a law student to ol)tain a li\elihood, when 
he had to com))ete in those courts Avith experienced and influential 
jiractitioners, it was requisite he should be (;ne of more tlum ordinary 
pluck, industry and intelligence. It was oidy Ibr a few years previous 
that anybody could })ractice in .Justices' Courts, for, as the law 
stood prior to 1812, Justices of tlie Peace were prohil)ited by })Osi- 
tive law Jrom allowing any one to apjiear in tlieir courts as an 
advocate, or to try causes, exce])t in cases of the sickness of the 
suitor. But in Ajiril, 1812, tliat law was repealed, and the pre- 
aAible to the rej)ealing chiusc reads so quaintly yet so truthfully, 
and v/ithal sounds so oddly at thc^ present day, that I have been 
tem])ted to copy it. It reads: " Whereas it often happens that suit- 
ors are wanting in ability to do justice to tlieir own causes, or are 
deserted In/ thut presence of mind irhivh Is the requisite to C(>t/ii/i(f/id 
or hririij into use sn'-h ((oditic.^ as tin [j nnuj eietualbj possess ; and 
whereas it is a constitutional riglit which every ])erson lias, to 
employ assistance in r.ll lawful ))usiness, tlterefore the above section 
is rejiealed."' It is an acknowledgment of an old saying, that he 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 39 

who tries liis own cause has a fool for a client. What would the 
young lawyers of the present day do, if the above repealing clause 
of 1812 had never been enacted? 

I have it from the lips of Nunia Leonard, an early settler in 
Rome, and one of the Justices of tlie Peace fifty ami more years 
ago, and I have also learned it from otlier old residents, since 
passed away, 'that it was well understood whenever Mr. Foster 
was in a law case, even when a law student, that in the 
vernacular of the present day, " it meant Inisiness." In 1822 he 
was admitted to tin' ])ai-, ami within three liours after his 
admission to tlie C'ommon Pleas, he was assigned by the 
Court to defend a ])erson wlio was indicteil for petit larceny, 
second offense, the offense having l)een committed before the 
first conviction. In looking through the judicial records in 
Oneida County Clerk's oihce not long since, for materials for this 
paper, I came across a record of tliat trial, which took place that 
year at tlie General Sessions, before Judges Josluia Ilatheway, 
Truman Enos and Samuel Jones. Samuel Beardsley was District 
i\ttorney. As the law now is, a person convicted for the first 
time of petit larceny, is liable to imprisonment only, in the county 
jail, and if convicted of a similar offense, after the tir,;t conviction, 
then the punishment is l)y imprissuunent in the State ])rison. 

The statute as it then read i)rovided for the })unishment, by im- 
prisonment in the State Prison, " of every person who should be 
a secon<i time, or oftener, convicted of petit larceny,"" without say- 
ing (as the hiw now does) tliat the second offense must be com- 
mitted, oficr (I ciiut^h-tloii for a for:ner tlieft. The ol)jection was 
taken by Mr. Foster, that this couhl not be a State Prison otiense, 
as the indictment did not allege nor the ])roofs show, that the 
offense was committed after a previous conviction; but that in 
fact, the connlrtion w<\^ for the second offense; that the intent 
and spirit of the statute were to work a reformation of the 
offender, by increasing the punishment, for offences committed after 



40 MEN or EAELY EO:\rE. 

a conviction ; bnt if tliis was a State Prison offense, then the 
pnnishment was the greater for the fist offense. Tlie District iVt- 
torney relied n])on the literal reading of tlio statute, and for two 
hours the respective counsel argued that (Question of law to the 
court. Two of tlie judges lield with the District ^Vttorney, and the 
other one with Mr. Fostei", and so the case had to go to the jury. 
As jurors in tliose days were popularly considered judges of the law 
as well as of the fact in ciimiual trials, tlie ]>rlsoner's counsel sum- 
med up to the jury on that theoi'j^ and on tliat question of law, and 
for two hours the counsel on both sides argued to the jury as to the 
construction which should he given to that statute, without either 
side liardly touching upon the merits of the case, as to the guilt or 
innocence of the accused. The jury took the law of the case into 
their own hands, construed the statute differently from the two 
judges, and on that question of law acqiiitted t/te priso/ur .' With 
such a "send off" at the commencement of a professior.al career 
and when but twenty-two years old, it can hardly be supposed 
Mr. Foster ever lacked for clients. A few years later, the 
same quL'stion came up 'rtgain in this county, and was carried 
to the iSiiprenie C\>urt, and l,h;it court, (-'id Cow. Uep., 347,) gave 
the construction to the law contended for by ]\[r. Foster, and 
then the Legislature changed the statute, to make it conform:d>le 
to that decision. 

It was dithcult in those days, if not impossible, for a person to 
remain neutral in, or for one of and>ition and ability to keep out of 
politics during the exciting times growing out of the discussion 
relative to tlie convention and constitution of 1821, the elective 
franchis(>, the Presidential campaign between General Jackson 
and John (^uincy Adams in ls24, :ind the still more exciting one 
of isjs. ^fr. Foster, lik(! Samuel IJeardsley, Greene C. Pronson, 
Samuel A. Talcott, AViliiam II. JMaynard, Henry II. Storrs, Jose])h 
Kirklaud, Ez'kiel liacon, Jodnia A. Spencer, Timothy Jenkins, 
and other legal himinaries, drifted into politics, and at an early 
age all of the al»ove took as active a i>art in caucuses and conveu- 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 41 

tions as in the trial of causes at the Circi;it. In 182G, in the 
gubernatorial contest between DeWitt Clinton and William B. 
Rocliester, Mr. Foster was nominated for Assembly on the 
Rochester ticket ; but the Clintonians and federalists were too 
strong in the county, and the Rochester Assembly ticket was 
defeated. In 1827 Mr. Foster made a bold push for the office of 
Surrogate, then held by Mr. Hatheway, It was a hazardous 
attempt for a young man, not then twenty-seven years of age, to 
try for the displacement of one wlio had l)een in political life as 
long as Mr. Hatheway, and vvlio knew so well all the ins 
and outs of politics; and moreover, wlio liad to back him 
his son-in-law, ]Mr. Samuel Beards] ey, then an important factor 
in tlie politics of the county and State. The attempt seemed like 
demanding the crown i'rom tlie reigning King, or the scepter from 
the Pope. Nevertheless, the effort was made. In March, 1827, 
Mr. Foster was appointed Mr. Hatheway's successor, Surrogate of 
Oneida County, by Governor DeWitt Clinton, which office he held 
until 1831. In 1830 he was elected State Senator, over Neheniiah 
Huntington, an old lawyer of Madison County. Mr. Foster's 
majority iu Oneida County was fourteen hundred. Ei)liraim Hart, 
of Utica, ran on the workingmen's party, and received 0)ie vote in 
Rome, and four hundred and seventy-five votes in the county. So 
it seems that the party of last year by that name was not a new one, 
but that fifty years ago an organized workingmen's party was in 
existence, seeking at the polls a redress for political grievances. 
History repeats itself, sometimes in fifty years, and many times 
oftener. 

Mr. Foster vras Trustee of Rome village in 1826, 1827 an<l 1828, 
and Supervisor of the town in 1829 and 1830, and again in 1833 
and 1834. Ill January, 1835, he wns again aj)pointed Surrogate of 
Oneida County, to succeed Allansoii Bennett, and held the position 
until he resigned in August, 1837, as he was then soon to commence 
his Congressional labors at Washington. In 183G, lie was elected 
to Congress, over Joshua A. Spencer, although Israel Stoddard 



42 MEN" OF EARLY ROME. 

ran as the " bolters " candidate, and carried off twelve hundred 
votes. It was the year Martin Van Buren v/as elected President 
of the United States, In the Harrison campaign of 1S40, Ex-Gov- 
ernor Seymour and Ward Hunt were competitors for the nomina- 
tion for the State Senate. As tlie Senatorial convention was 
about evenly divided between those two candidates, they finally 
compromised on the nomination of Mr. Foster, who was elected 
over Cliester Buck of Lewis County. While in the Senate during 
this term, Mr. Foster introduced a resolution, and to him belongs 
the honor of procuring its passage through both Houses of the 
Legislature, favoring the modification of the franking privilege, 
and a reduction of the rate of ])Ostage (the cost of sending a sin- 
gle letter tlirougli tlie mails, then being from eighteen to twenty- 
five cents.) That was the first legislative action taken on that 
subject, and although it took tlie gener;;! government a long 
time to give heed to that reqnest from the Empire State, yet it 
was eventually done, and Mr. Foster has lived to see that reform, 
initiated by him and so much needed l)y the people, become the 
law of tlie land. Near tlie close of his term lie resigned, to 
accept the appointment of LTnited States Senator, to fill a vacancy. 

Hammond's Political History, in referring to the Senate of 
184t, uses the following language: " Had we arranged the mem- 
bers of the Senate of 1S44 according to their re])utation for talents, 
Mr. Foster ought uiidoul)tedly to have headed the list. In debate 
he is truly fonnidable. The rai)id and effective action of his 
intellectual powers, his retentive nu.'niory, his ready recollection 
of fixcts and even dates, combined with his sharp and caustic style 
of sjieaking, made him respected and feared by his opponents, and 
the admired champion of his friends." 

In Ajfril, 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Mr. Foster 
to the office of United States District Attorney for the northern 
district of New York. The aj^pointment was entirely unsolicited 
xiud unexpected; the first knowledge or intimation Mr. Foster 



IIISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 43 

had of such intended appointment, was from the newspapers. He 
felt compelled to decline the proiterod honor, and Samuel B. 
Garvin, then of Utica, was subsequently appointed. 

In 1S63 he war> elected Judo-e of the Supreme Court from this 
Judicial District, for a term of eight years. Such then is a syn- 
opsis of the political and judicial life of Judge Foster, in addition 
to as large and im])ortant a law lousiness as any other lawyer in 
Central New York, viz.: six and onedialf years Surrogate; two 
years in Congress; eight years in the State Senate; and eight 
years on the bench of the Supreme Court — all of which positions 
he adorned, and discharged their various duties with an ability, 
fidelity and fidtlifulness that were never questioned. He now 
lacks but a few months of his seventy-ninth birthday, and with a 
mind unimpaired by increasing yer.rs, a memoiy unatfected l)y the 
accumulation and cares of an extensive law business, a vig<n- of 
intellect that seems to have suffered no diminutii^n by use or age, 
and with, an activity that is but very little lessened by the burdens 
of an unusually active and busy life. Rome is honored by the 
residence of such a one who has lieen a " Roman Citizen " for 
nearly one-half a century, and has made a decided impress upon 
the times in which he has lived. I think I am safe in saying that 
no one is now living in this State, and that the personal knowl- 
edge of those who now hear me does not extend to any other 
person who has attained sucli ;;n age, with such mental vigor, and 
capable of sucli physical en(bu-ance. AYith the exception of 
Alvin Bronson above named he is tlie oldest P]x-Senator in the 
State. And in ruiuiing ni}- eye ovei- the names of the forty-two 
Congressmen ir^ini tliis State at the time Judge Foster was a 
member of tliat body, T find only three besides himself now alive, 
viz.: Judge Amasa J. Parker, of Albany; Arphaxad Loomis, of 
Little Falls ; Judge Hiram Gray, of Elmii-a. 

The present generation must not be unmindful that the political 
work and the political workers of to-day, ai-e not by any means 



44 MEN OF EAELY EOME. 

like those of the times of wliieh I liave been speaking. Tliose 
were the days of arduous political toil, of sleepless vigilance, and 
of untiring activity. Tliose were the times when the foremost 
members of the bar, and tlie m<»st prominent men in comity and 
State were in attendance at town caucuses, and delegates to dis- 
trict, county and State conventions, and among the hardest and 
most faithful workers at the election polls; when the note of })rep- 
aration, on the eve of an election, like that on the eve of battle, 
sounded all along the lines, and no vigilance was relaxed, no 
work left undone until tlie last vote was in the ballot box. jSTo 
one was idle, none slept at his ])ost. Jjct me narrate an incident 
or two as to the way the warfare was waged and politicians 
worked forty, fifty and sixty years :igo. 

Those who knew Wheeler Barnes will remember that for the 
last tliirty years of his life he was lame, ;;nd walked with ditficulty, 
even with a cane. He was an active partisan in his day, and ]):i.r- 
ticularly hostile and bittei' in Ids <>])|)Osition to General Jackson for 
the Presidency in ISi'S, as were all of the Adams men of tliat 
period. That was the year of the " coffin hand bills," distributed 
by the Adams men in every school district, and with wonderful 
effect against (Jeneriil Jackson. At the head of each hand bill 
were the pictures of six black looking coffins, and ixnderneath was 
printed the story of the six militia men ordered l)y General Jack- 
son to be shot Ibr desertion, and who were executed in 1815, The 
story was told with pathetic tenderness, and with the amplification 
and exaggeration usually attending electioneering documents. A 
few days before that election, ]Mr. Ijarnes started out from IJomo 
on horseback, witli a large roll of those hand bills, to distribute in 
Vienna, Camden an 1 adjoining towns. A democratic politician of 
Rome in those times, and who is yet a Koman,* seeing ]\[r. Barnes 
start out, suspected tlie j)urport of his ndssion, followed on soon 
after with an antidote for that poison. A short distance 
west of the United States Arsenal, Mr. Barnes' horse was discov- 
ered by the Jackson man riderless by the roadside, and on inquiry 

* Ex-Judge Foster. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 45 

he learned that Mv. Barnes was in a neighboring house, having 
fallen or been thrown from his saddle, breaking his leg near the 
hip joint. The illness consequent thereon lasted him for months, 
and he was made a cripple for the rest of Iiis life. Of course the 
Jackson men cliose to construe that misfortune as a visitation upon 
Mr. Barnes for his activity and bitterness in that canvass. 

Four years later, and when General Jackson ran the next time 
for the Presidency, a misfortune befel the Jackson party, and had 
it resulted as was at first feared, would have given the Jackson 
men more annoyance and pain tlian the breaking of a dozen legs. 
The Democratic County Convention was held tluxt year (1S32) at 
Floyd, and Squire Utley, of Western, David Wager, of Utica, John 
Dewey, of Boonville, and Othniel Williams (father of Hon. O. S. 
Williams) of Clinton, were nominated for the Assembly. It was 
in the time of three days' electioti, the first day commencing 
Monday, November 5th. llailroads and telegraph wires had not 
then penetrated Oneida County. On Sunday, November 4th, at 
six o'clock in the evening, Mr. Williams, one of the above nomi- 
nees, died suddenly at his home in Clinton ! What was to be 
done, election commencing at nine o'clock the next morning ? A 
new set of Assembly tickets was at once printed, with the name of 
Levi Buckingham, of ^Marshall, in )»lace of Mr. Williams, and a 
printed circular signed by the county corresponding committee, 
announcing tlie death, accompanied the ballots. About midnight 
that night a si)ecial messenger reached Rome with the news of the 
death, ami with the votes for all of tlie northern towns. Thomas 
Dugan, then an active democrat, was at once started with the 
tickets for the towns of Floyd, Steuben, Remsen, Trenton and 
Boonville. Judge Foster started about one A. m. on liorsel)ack, 
Avith the tickets of Western, Lee, Annsville, Camden, Florence and 
Vienna, and left them in the hands of trusty persons, and was 
back by nine o'clock Monday morning at the polls in the " Fish 
Creek district " in Rome, where the first day's election was lield, 
ready for a three days' battle for General Jackson and the demo- 
cratic cause. The whole county was supplied with the tickets, and 



46 ME]?^ OF EAELY EOME. 

only twelve voles were lost (in the town of Augusta) by reason 
of tlie above disaster. Tlie whole demoeratic ticket was elected 
that year in county, State and Nation. Such was the way politi- 
cians did their work in those days, and of such materials were 
they composed. 

I am not unmindful of such Romans as Allanson Bennett, 
Charles Tracy, Xornian B. Judd, William C. Noyes, Calvin B. 
Gay, Calvert Comstock and others, l)ut as they were not prom- 
inent actors for the first forty years of Home's history, they go 
into another and later chn|)ter, 

JOIIX STIIYKER. 

Tlicre is yet one more Roman who should go into this "record" 
before this chapter closes, for he has been a resident for almost 
onedialf a century, and none in the State has been more active in 
politics than he. Mr. John Stryker read law with Storrs & White, 
came to Rome ])ofore he was twenty-one to iorm a law partnership 
with Allans.ju I>en]iett, was admitted to the bar as soon as he had 
attained his maj<jrity, and at once glided into politics by a process 
so easy and natural, that it was almost second nature to him, and yet 
he had a large law practice, in connection with his subsequent law 
partners, Henry A. Foster, C'larles Tracy and Calvert Comstock. 
No jjcrson ]>robably in the State, and certairdy none in the county 
was s_) fond of politics as he or made it such an exclusive 
study and business for over forty years of his lile. He was 
elected to the Assembly in ISOS, held the office of Surrogate for 
ten years from is;!*?, and those were about the ojdy offices he ever 
held ; and yet he has attended more caucuses, distiict, county, 
State and National conventions, made and unmade officediolders, 
and managed and manipidated conventions to a greater extent 
than any other man in the State. A few weeks ago he reached 
his seventieth birthday, and yet liis memory as to facts, dates 
and details of fifty years gone l)y is not equaled by that of any 
living person. The politics of Oneida County and the history of 



HISTOEICAL ADDEESS. 47 

State find Xational conventions wonM be in a great measure sliorn 
of their most interesting- features, if all that lion. John Stryker 
had to do therewith was left out. 

I have spoken of Mr. Stryker more as a politician, he having 
been a delegate to twelve State Conventions of the democratic 
party, a delegate to four National conventions, and for ten years 
a leading member on the State committee. Dm-ing a long period 
of his political life he was in confidential correspondence with such 
eminent men as Governor Marcy, General Lewis Cass, Governor 
Bonck, Governor Manning, of South Carolina, John L. Dawson, 
of Pennsylvania, Edwin Croswell, &c., &c., and a life-long and 
devoted friend and admirer of Governor Seymour. The letters 
above referred to, if preserved, would make an interesting history 
of the times, and an im})ortant chapter of the movements of the 
democratic party. To him and Judge Foster is Rome indebted 
for its ]n-osperity in securing the Black River Canal and the Syra- 
cuse and Utica Railroad, against active adverse interests, and the 
change of the Erie Canal from the Rome Swamp to the center of 
the city — from which time Rome has continued to increase in pros- 
perity, on a sound basis, and which have been the means of adding 
five-fold to her ])opulation. 



Lengthy as this paper is, it contains not a tithe of what 
could be written concerning the important events and prominent 
men in Rome for the first forty years of its history — men who 
have exerted as great an influence in the history of the county, 
State and nation as any who have lived in the Valley of the Mo- 
hawk since the days of the Revolution, 

It is well for the present generation to have occasionally unfolded 
to their view a panorama of the past, as it will better enable them 
to understand and appreciate its history, and to more fully realize 
the nature, character and beneficence of those political institutions 
which are destined to live and flourish long after the memory of 
the actors in those scenes shall have faded away, like streaks of 
morning cloud, into the infinite azure of the past. 



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